Most known for being the lead singer and guitarist of The Vamps, who recently celebrated their tenth anniversary, Bradley is kickstarting a new chapter in his music journey - one that fans are eager for. ‘The Panic Years’ is a summary of Bradley's life for the past ten years, tackling personal issues and navigating your 20s.
The album starts with ‘Cry at the Moon’, Bradley’s first single originally released on March 22nd of 2024, it’s a powerful debut and opener as the strum of his guitar instantly plays. Already adored by fans, it has a loud grunge sound to it, certainly making it stand out from what fans have heard from him before. The track explores the loss and longing during heartache shown through lyrics such as “No matter I do / There’s no coming back from you” , and by his emotional delivery throughout.
The second track is ‘Picasso’, which as a whole is a metaphor for turbulent love and passion. It explores the idea that pain and suffering can be turned into something beautiful by his partner, who is referred to as ‘Picasso’, due to the fact that he is so in love. These complex emotions are delved into through the idea of art and how things can be fragmented but you can still be blindsided by the good in them. He sings “I’d run into a burning room / I’d pose and let you paint me black and blue”, showing his lack of care for the torture he’s being put through as he yearns for his partner. Despite the darkness of Bradley’s clever lyricism, the sound itself contrasts with this to create a more upbeat feeling.
Up next is ‘Carpet Burn’ a track that fans had already learnt the words to before it was even released, so that they could sing along with Brad at his live shows. It’s a song about wishing you’d met someone sooner but being thankful you have so much time with them still. The verses build up the connection in a relationship, the learning stage of finding out who your partner is and what makes them the way that they are. For instance the starting line being “You only cry when you’re mad / Wake with the fear that you had said something bad” and then sharing stories between them about things that happened before they’d met. The bridge is what emphasises how meeting at the right time is important despite the past experiences, “When I needed to hold you / When you were petrified / I don’t think we were ready”.
‘Daisies’ is a much more dreamy sounding track, once again using metaphors to describe Bradleys experience with dating. “I’ve been picking daisies / Running through the field till my feet go numb” is actually talking about the dating world and how it feels never ending trying to find your person. The pace of the album slows down for ‘Holy Grail’ , a vulnerable and emotional ballad that draws attention as it differs from the indie-rock sound that’s present for the majority of the album. It’s much more romantic in its lyrics, the chorus being “We’ll have bills that we’ll have to pay / We’ll have words we don’t want to say / Couple kids I can’t wait to get to know”, which perfectly encapsulates the pure love and admiration he has for his partner. A much more refreshing outlook on love in comparison to ‘Picasso’.
As a whole the album discusses the hard times, being able to resonate with fans particularly in their early 20s, ‘Getting Clear’ offers the listeners hope and a brighter perspective. It’s characterised by added synths and its motivational lyrics, showing that things can get better and that it will be alright in the end. “Didn’t know how good it would feel way over here” is a line that suggests it has taken a while for things to become clear but it was absolutely worth the wait, the pre-chorus “Going from okay, to alright / To fuck yeah, its my time / From waiting, to making the signs” only adds to this. It’s a track all about taking back control and finding your way in life to be happy.
‘Not Us Anymore’ features Brad’s signature vocals and is filled with warm guitars, taking a look back into how a relationship from his younger years is no longer the same. He sings about uncomplicated memories like holding hands and laying on each other's chests, hinting at a purer kind of love, typically experienced in your late teens/early 20s. The heartache of going from lovers to strangers after knowing everything about a person, they then become “eyes I didn’t recognise”. ’Almost’ follows this same idea of navigating an earlier kind of love where the pair don’t know how to do so properly, hence the lyric “You were almost the best thing that happened to me”. The song talks about how when things get “real” people leave and “You could say how you feel, but, you chose something mean”, suggesting it's the easier option in this scenario to avoid how you feel. Although it does have a much heavier sound to It in comparison to ‘Not Us Anymore’, which makes the message of the song land a lot harder on the listener.
Brad’s cheeky and sarcastic personality really shines on the next track “Favourite Band” as the tempo increases once again for a more light hearted song. The opening being “I hope he plays us in the car / With your feet up on the dash, yeah / I’d like that, yeah / I hope he fucking breaks your heart / I’m just kidding, no I’m not” - which at live shows has already gone down a treat. It’s the ultimate pop pick me up to celebrate the success in his life.
The range Bradley exudes in the album just goes to show what an incredible and versatile artist he is. He’s brought a new maturity and uniqueness to the tracks and shown everyone what he is capable of creating as a solo artist. Particularly ‘Always Like This’ brings back in the more grunge and heavy sounding drums to create a lasting impact on whoever is listening, along with an insane electric guitar solo towards the end of the song before belting the chorus one last time.
As we come to the penultimate track ‘The Band’s Not Breaking Up’ which was theorised by fans to be about The Vamps when the tracklist first got released, we come to learn it is actually about a relationship breaking up. With a much slower and heartfelt, desperate tone, this track will definitely pull on your heart strings.
Title track ‘The Panic Years’ allows the listener into Brad’s world of personal memories and experiences for one last time, setting the scenes for his “Ten years of panic”. With the simplicity of an acoustic guitar, it allows Bradley’s storytelling to shine, describing what most people experience - love, loss, panic and fear - he sums up what life can be like as you’re figuring yourself and your life out. Whilst still having an essence of faith, he reassures his fans that everything will be alright. Bradley is now set to play the album live for the very first time all over the UK on his upcoming tour.
Emma Turner
Image: ‘The Panic Years’ Official Album Cover
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